The Witzard

"[ Bon Iver 's] a fucking genius! I'd never seen nor heard of him in my life, and I looked up, and I was in a fucking 5 x 5 room with a white guy, smoking weed... and his voice is like something I've never heard, and he's using words that are far from common. Within 20 minutes, I realized why Kanye had him there." - Rick Ross (Billboard) Justin Vernon probably never imagined that his high-pitched primary band, Bon Iver would ever garner so much widespread acclaim, let alone 4 Grammy nominations. 2011 was quite arguably The Year of Bon Iver ; Over the course of the year, Vernon somehow managed to strike up a lucrative friendship with Kayne & Jay-Z , harmonize alongside Nicki Minaj , appear on Gayngs' remix album - "Affiliyated," collaborate with The National and Dub Master James Blake , and hawking Bushmills whiskey. On top of all that, his long-awaited follow-up album (Bon Iver, Bon Iver) was released on Jagjaguwar . That very album ...

The art of compiling and releasing cast off left-overs and B-sides has been a long-standing tradition in both Hip-Hop and Indie music; Pivotal to their natural progressions, since concurrently forming back in the 1980's. Hip-Hop artists and fans widely refer to the practice as the "mixtape:" A release which generally complies unclear-able samples and nearly-completed left-over tracks. Promotional tool used around the time of album release(s). Now, Indie Rock artists and devotees commonly refer to the medium as "mix CD [tape]:" More of a fan-run thing, mix CD's are often burned for a love interest and usually posses a running theme or mood. UPDATE: The "apocalyptic" date, 11/11/11 did in fact approach and complete. So, that means that Small Black - MOON KILLER (mixtape) was liberated earlier this morning. Yadda, yadda , yadda... Direct download link. This includes 2 Heems features, Nick Minaj-Carpenters samples, Star Slinger-Phonetag R...